Microsoft, Sony eat into Apple's movie provider share in 2010

Despite fierce competition, Apple's iTunes store managed to hold onto its dominance in the US market for movie electronic sell through and Internet video on demand in 2010, according to IHS Screen Digest research by iSuppli. The market share numbers are based on total consumer spending on movies available online; movie revenue rose by more than 60 percent last year.

The iTunes online digital media store went from 74.4 percent market share in 2009 to 64.5 percent in 2010. The Zune Video store grew the most (apparently due to increased Xbox sales thanks to the Kinect explosion): jumping from 11.6 percent share in 2009 to 17.9 percent in 2010. Sony took third place by growing from 5.7 percent in 2009 to 7.2 percent in 2010. Amazon VOD and Wal-Mart's Vudu service were in the remaining "Others" category, which grew from 8.3 percent in 2009 to 10.4 percent in 2010.

"The iTunes online store showed remarkable competitive resilience last year in the U.S. EST/iVOD movie business, staving off a growing field of tough challengers while keeping pace with an dramatic expansion for the overall market," Arash Amel, research director of digital media for IHS, said in a statement. "Apple faced serious competition from Microsoft's Zune Video and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Store, as well as from Amazon and—most significantly—Wal-Mart. However, iTunes managed to grow because of the introductions of the iPad and the second-generation Apple TV, which have spurred the company's movie rental offerings and have invigorated the iTunes multi-screen ecosystem. We expect that in the United States, Apple's strong performance in iVOD will allow it to continue to bypass the video on demand services offered by many major cable operators."